Predicting the Badgers depth chart for 2018 season opener

Predicting the Badgers depth chart for 2018 season opener

Yes, we’re almost to the start of the 2018 season. In fact, come Monday, we’ll know pretty well exactly how the Badgers will line up to face Western Kentucky in the season opener.

We also have been provided key pieces of news over the past two days, with expected starting wide receivers Quintez Cephus and Danny Davis suspended.

Davis will be back following the second game, pending any other information coming to light in the Cephus sexual assault cases.

But, this is all about the opener and how the Badgers will line up. So, let’s take a look at how the depth chart may look when it is released prior to the game.

Offense

Quarterback:

Alex Hornbrook; Jack Coan

Any questions as to Hornibrook’s status as a starter were put to rest quickly this offseason — due in large part to his performance against Miami (FL) in the Orange Bowl. Fall camp was about the backup spot, and Coan rebounded from a so-so spring to easily take claim of the second spot on the roster. UW has to feel it is in good hands with its QB situation overall.

Running Back:

Jonathan Taylor; Taiwan Deal

If there was a surprise this fall, it was the fact that veteran running back Taiwan Deal looked like a new man. Following so many ankle problems, many wondered if he still had it in him to be a big part of the offense. He looked great in camp and running back coach John Settle made it clear that by the end of the open part of camp, Deal was in line for the primary backup role behind Taylor. Speaking of Taylor, he added a much better pass-catching game to his skill set and that has to be terrifying to opponents.

Wide Receiver:

WR1: A.J. Taylor, Jack DunnWR2: Kendric Pryor; Adam Krumholtz

With the two biggest stars out of the mix for the opener, you can expect veteran (and underrated performer) A.J. Taylor to take on a bigger role than maybe he was prior to the suspensions. But, UW also will see Kendric Pryor step up, which is something he did a lot of in fall camp.

Don’t sleep on the players behind those two either, as both Dunn and Krumholtz have done good things in fall camp as well. There is plenty of quality production available from this group, just not the star power that was there with Cephus and Davis in the mix.

What will be interesting is what role true freshman Aron Cruickshank will play. Position coach Ted Gilmore has stated Cruickshank has earned a role, but wants to bring him along slowly. Will that plan be sped up (pun intended with Cruickshank) now that they are down a few more bodies in the opening weeks? My guess is we won’t see him in the two-deep but in speciality situations early on this season.

Tight End:

It appears as if Penniston will get the first crack as the primary pass-catching tight end this season. But, don’t be surprised to see Jake Ferguson’s talent push the coaching staff to play him more as the season goes along. It’s pretty much steady as she goes at a premium position for the Badgers.

Offensive Line:

Fall camp saw just one real battle along the offensive line, and that came between veteran Jon Dietzen and former U.S. Army All-American Cole Van Lanen. It appears as if offseason hip surgery has allowed Dietzen to get more flexible and helped him win this position battle early on. However, don’t expect this battle to be done just yet. I fully expect both to get snaps with the first team in the opener and the evaluation to continue throughout non-conference play.

Defense

MADISON, WI – NOVEMBER 11: Wisconsin Nose Tackle Olive Sagapolu (99) sacks Iowa Hawkeye Quarterback Nate Stanley (4) just inches from the end zone during a Big Ten football game between the University of Wisconsin Badgers and the the University of Iowa Hawkeyes on November 11, 2017, at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, WI. (Photo by Lawrence Iles/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Defensive Line:

There were a lot of questions to answer in fall camp at defensive line. Few of them actually got answered though, and about the only thing that seems set is nose tackle and Isaiahh Loudermilk not being ready to go for the season opener. As such, I expect we’ll see the rising walk-on Matt Henningsen and converted offensive lineman Kayden Lyles to take on the starting roles. What will be interesting to see will be which names appear just behind him on the list, because there’s been a whole lot of inconsistency from everyone in fall camp.

Linebacker:

Coming in to fall camp, a big question was depth and quality at outside linebacker. Coming out of fall camp, the bigger question seems to be how to find snaps for all those who flashed in camp. Both expected starters Andrew Van Ginkel and Zack Baun were great all camp long and could form a really difficult duo. Alabama transfer Christian Bell also appears in line for a ton of snaps, while there is a lot of potential on the outside in names like Tyler Johnson, Noah Burks and Izayah Green-May as well. It’s the usual suspects on the inside as well.

Secondary

Fall camp showed us that the safety position is loaded to bare, but it also showed us that there is more depth and competition at cornerback than originally thought. We’re guessing that Dontye Carriere-Williams gets the nod in the opener, but he was clearly behind Deron Harrell and Faion Hicks in terms of consistency in camp. So, don’t be surprised to see that cornerback spot flipped on us. Hicks was a revelation in camp and true freshman Donte Burton and sophomore Caesar Williams made late impressions in camp as well and likely are in the mix for that slot cornerback role.

Specialists

There weren’t a ton of surprises in fall camp, outside of the fact that Rafael Gaglianone had hip and leg issues creep up thanks to ongoing back issues. He was shut down for a large part of fall camp in the hopes of being ready for the season. We’ll see if his name appears on the depth chart for Week 1, but I expect that won’t happen and we’ll see who won the battle for that role between Larsh and Hintze.

As for the returning gigs, it is almost impossible to know what the coaching staff is thinking at kick returner since every wide receiver is moving up a level for the first few weeks at least. But, there’s also no way you don’t get the speedy Cruickshank on the field with the punt return unit.

What the Badgers need to work on in the bye week

Two games, two victories, two shutouts and two record-setting performance. It would be easy to think the 2-0 Wisconsin Badgers football team is riding high in to its early bye week.

But, with the challenge of the Michigan Wolverines just around the corner things are not exactly going to go as planned.

So, with a week off to prepare what are some of the areas of concentration and concern heading in to the matchup with the Wolverines?

Get Healthy

I feel like this is a mantra of any team on a bye week, but after only two games it shouldn’t be that bad. But, guess what, Wisconsin is two games in to the season and the injury gods have not been kind to this team.

On Sunday, we learned that starting safety Scott Nelson will miss the rest of the season with a leg injury.

Late last week we knew that five other players were going to miss the Central Michigan game, with two of those being starters on defense in Bryson Williams and Izayah Green-May.

Now luckily, the depth of this team showed up as true freshman Keeanu Benton (1 TFL) played well in place of Williams and Noah Burks (2 tackles, 1 TFL and 1 pass break up) made it seem like there was nothing missing at outside linebacker.

But, there’s no question that playing with a full group of players against Michigan will be advantageous. Let’s see if the Badgers can get Williams and Green-May healthy and my guess is that they will be able to do just that with nearly three weeks of treatment and testing.

Stay Hungry

One of the things that has been clear so far about this team is that they have been playing with a lot of emotion and edge to them. It’s almost as if they spent an entire offseason stewing over a less-than-stellar performance in 2018 and are bound and determined to not let that happen again.

Whatever was bottled up in the offseason was certainly unleashed in the first two weeks of the season. Can UW find a way to continue to play with that edge and fire now that they have no game this week?

Sometimes the bye week can mess with a team, especially one that is rolling like the Badgers are. But, I have a distinct feeling that motivation and focus are not going to waver at all with this coaching staff in place.

Wisconsin also has the advantage of being the underdog in the matchup with Michigan (at least on paper it will) and has a ton of hungry young players looking to make a name for themselves.

What better way to do that than against Michigan with the whole college football world watching you?

This idea of staying hungry doesn’t worry me in the least, but it would be something to watch coming out of the gate against Michigan. If the Badgers look flat or out of sorts, I’d be worried. If not, then look for Michigan to be in some serious trouble on Sept. 21.

New Wrinkles?

Early on this season, we’ve already seen a lot of Jonathan Taylor the running back, but we’ve also seen a lot of JT23 the receiving back and it has produced glorious results.

Even better is the fact that the Badgers coaching staff hasn’t had to get exotic with the play calling early on this season either. There’s been few sightings of Aron Cruickshank end arounds or double running back sets or anything crazy.

Wisconsin has lined up, punched the opposing defense in the mouth up front and done the basics needed to put points on the board.

It will be interesting to see what wrinkles will be added with the extra time and the opponent at hand. Will the Badgers break out a few things that Michigan won’t be ready for or will they stick to the tried and true and just see what happens?

Pass Protection

If there’s one thing we know about Michigan’s defense is that it is nearly the Badgers equal in aggressiveness. Through two games the Badgers have allowed four sacks on the quarterback.

It may not seem alarming, but last season, UW allowed a total of 24 through 13 games for an average of 1.85 per game and that was a bit of a problem in bigger games. Furthermore, 12 of the 24 sacks came in Wisconsin’s five losses last year.

The good news seems to be that UW is going to get some help for the quarterback spot in avoiding some of those sacks this year. Jack Coan may not be a world-record sprinter, but he has shown to be more comfortable stepping up in the pocket and taking off if needed.

But, the Badgers were not really tested so far in terms of overall talent and did give up three sacks against USF in the opener. On the flip side, the offensive line looked much better against CMU and only one sack happened on the day.

Does that indicate improvement or just how bad the Chippewas were? With an extra week to work on things, lets see how the Badgers offensive line works through any potential issues and any adjustments that may be needed.

Sunday Morning Hangover: What to make of Coan’s confident start

By now, Jack Coan isn’t a total newcomer to the starting quarterback role for the Wisconsin Badgers. But, on Saturday he was making his first career start inside Camp Randall Stadium.

All five of his previous starts would come on the road or in a bowl game.

So, how did Coan handle the home crowd and it being a season opener at Camp Randall nonetheless? Judging by his record-setting numbers it was safe to say it was home, sweet home for the junior quarterback.

After passing for over 200 yards for the first time in his career last week against USF, Coan set personal records for passing attempts, completions, yards and touchdown passes in a single game.

It’s hard to get much better than that.

On the day, Coan would go 26 of 33 for 363 yards and 3 touchdowns. Those numbers were the catalyst to the Badgers 61-0 blanking of the visiting Central Michigan Chippewas.

His 363 yards were the fifth best in a single game by any Badgers quarterback. Coan also became just the 11th Badgers QB to throw for 300 or more yards in a game.

Additionally, his 276 yards in the first half were the most ever by any Badgers quarterback in a single half.

That’s some historic territory for anyone to reach.

However, after sleeping on it, I am still left wondering if this is a sign of things to come or a blip on the radar and we’ll never see this again.

Maybe it’s because I can still remember being there in person to witness Coan fumble and bumble his way to a loss at Northwestern last year.

Maybe that’s the Hornibrook affect in me too? After all, we got totally burned by thinking Hornibrook had turned a corner with his great performance in the bowl win over Miami two years ago.

Instead, Hornibrook reverted right back to the inconsistent and at times terrible version that his more extensive body of work told us was likely who he was.

But, here’s why I think we aren’t seeing a blip on the radar with Coan. It’s his confidence and the fact that we’ve seen him go out and do better each and every week he’s been a starter.

We are seeing progress, which we never really did with Hornibrook under center. If you can’t see that Coan is improving, then you aren’t paying attention.

Last week, despite the first ever 200-yard day for Coan, a lot of attention was paid to the missed wide open receivers on vertical routes. What did Coan do about it? He went out this week and showed he could confidently and accurately hit those deep balls.

“I think it’s important, and certainly we’ve got to be able to — we thought coming into the year we’ve got to do a better job of attacking the whole field, and so when you can do that, it’s good, but I think guys have had confidence in it,” said head coach Paul Chryst after the CMU win.

“I know last week we were 0-2 for those “chunk” plays, but he wouldn’t have cut ’em loose today if he didn’t have confidence in it. So I don’t know that doing it in a game makes you more confident, but it was good to see. It’s nice to be able to hit a couple of those, obviously.”

Additionally, Coan’s relationship early on this season with Quintez Cephus has been something special to watch. With virtually no playing time and no extensive practice time together, the duo has seemed totally in sync to start the season.

Cephus has nine receptions for 169 yards and two touchdowns through two games. He also is averaging 84.5 yards per game, good for fifth in the Big Ten in this early season.

Just to put the difference between Coan and Honribrook in to some perspective for you. Through two games last year, the Badgers had just 26 receptions as a team. This year, UW already has 50.

Wisconsin also has a total of 16 passes for 15 or more yards on the season. That is a quarter of what the Badgers had (64) all of last year and we’re only two games in to the season.

A.J. Taylor (8), Danny Davis (6), Kendric Pryor (6) and Jake Ferguson (6) have all had major impacts in the pass game too.

It means a diverse and talented group is producing quickly this season.

Of course, the challenge of Michigan’s defense awaits the Badgers offense and it certainly will be a step up in competition from the likes of USF and Central Michigan.

However, the Wolverines also won’t be seeing the same old Wisconsin offense they did for the past few years either.

What Coan has brought to the table through two weeks of play should make Michigan think twice about stacking the box against the run all game long.

Wisconsin finally has an outwardly confident quarterback and it feels so very good.

We’re back with more in our video work for the Badgers 2019 season. As per usual, our Publisher, Andrew Coppens, is here to give you the lowdown on the matchup between the Wisconsin Badgers and Central Michigan Chippewas.

That means, key players to watch, key stats to keep an eye on and the weekly prediction.

He is 1-0 after nearly nailing the full score last week, so what does this matchup look like?